A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Graz Music Theater in Graz, Austria by Reiser + Umemoto, 1998 The following text and images are by Reiser + Umemoto for their design of a music theater in Graz, Austria. Our music theater is a response to the unique programmatic, spatial, and even structural conditions inherent in an institution that is both educational and civic in nature. The intensive, daily activity of the music college necessitates a highly functional organization, one comprised of flexible, sober spaces which lend themselves to the careful development and refinement of works of music and theater. As such, the elements containing the academically-oriented programs operate as a kind of workshop for the production of the theatrical and orchestral arts. The public spaces quite literally utilize the components of the scholastic programs contai...

CPS Competition in Chicago, Illinois by Koning Eizenberg Architecture, 2001 Titled Big Shoulders...Small Schools , the recent Chicago Public School's Design Competition asked the entrants to focus on two issues: small school size and accessibility. Winner of the North-side site (New York City's Marble Fairbanks winning for the South-side site), Santa Monica, California's Koning Eizenberg Architecture responds to these issues with a coherent, yet informal design that also relates to, and strengthens, its surroundings. With the site split into two parcels on opposite sides of a residential/commercial street the architects placed the early childhood center on the smaller, more appropriate, parcel. The larger site available for the K-8 school, classrooms are grouped in clusters to create a smaller, neighborhood environment...

Entory Home in Ettlingen, Germany by Behnisch, Behnisch & Partner, 1999 The following text and images are by Behnisch, Behnisch & Partner for their 1999 competition-winning project in Ettlingen, Germany, to be completed in 2002. "Nova home", Nova Data AG‘s new headquarters, will be erected on a site which was formerly occupied by military barracks. The representative site is located at the northern periphery of Ettlingen, addressing the access roads to the city center. It affords beautiful views of the charming environment - the meadows and soft, rolling hills of the Black Forest. The client wants a building with a variety of different spaces which are suitable both for teamwork and for individual work, as well as for any future working modes. In addition, spaces are to be created where people ...

Department of Geosciences in Aveiro, Portugal by Eduardo Souto de Moura, 1994 What is a facade? To many architects a facade is an afterthought, a two-dimensional surface (elevation) dictated by the interior plan. Following this approach, materials and openings are articulated to give the building its presentation to the public, limiting the compellingness of a building's exterior and the chances of a successful integration of inside and outside. Architects like Michael Graves design elevations while Eduardo Souto de Moura, in his Department of Geosciences for the University of Aveiro in Portugal, designed facades. The distinction may seem small, if not inconsequential, but it means the difference between fake and real, respectively. Given the restrictions of the Universi...